


all it takes

by fxbricxtedrexlity



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, I swear it has a happy ending, Mentions of blood and violence, goblin!seulgi, gumiho!irene, just a tiny bit tho dw, supernatural!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:00:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fxbricxtedrexlity/pseuds/fxbricxtedrexlity
Summary: ::“She doesn’t eat chicken,” Seulgi interjects, not looking up from where she was peeling potatoes on the floor. Joohyun, who had Seulgi’s coat draped over her lap, fixing a button, just gapes, wonders why, and how she knew that.Seojun just carefully backs away from the room, pressing his lips tightly to stop from smiling too widely.Seulgi feels a stare on her face, Joohyun looking at her like she’s never seen her before.“What?”“How did you know?”Seulgi shrugs. “Even your past humans never brought back any chickens. It was just something I noticed.”The goblin, it turns out, notices a lot of things.Joohyun doesn’t know what to do.::seulrene. gumiho!irene tries to convince dokkaebi!seulgi that she’s not really in love with her. she forgot that both of their charms do not work on each other. it takes them a few hundred years to let that information sink in.::
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kang Seulgi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 94





	all it takes

**Author's Note:**

>   
> a tad bit of warning before you proceed :)  
> this fic contains explicit sexual content and brief mentions of blood/violence  
> if some of the warnings put you off, please press the back button now :)  
> relationship between red velvet's irene and seulgi  
> i respect each and every one of the characters and real people i used in this fic
> 
> I guess that’s all, please enjoy :)  
> 

_all it takes_

**::**

this story is for **taitaiz**

**::**

_seulrene. gumiho!irene tries to convince dokkaebi!seulgi that she’s not really in love with her. she forgot that both of their charms do not work on each other. it takes them a few hundred years to let that information sink in._

**::**

She has seen a lot of things.

A thousand years, and some more, can do that to anyone.

But there was no one quite like Seulgi.

**::**

Her earliest memories are fuzzy at best, always stuck in the feeling of being entirely too warm or cold. She figures she must’ve had some sort of family from the start. When she tries to remember, it’s always feeling a few other bodies with her, huddled together for warmth and the taste of fresh meat after a long winter.

Just feelings, though. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t remember seeing anything, like she’s been living with her eyes closed.

But she figures there should be comfort in knowing that she wasn’t really this lonely all her life.

Joohyun sighs, curls in on herself, and shuts her eyes to sleep.

**::**

There really wasn’t anyone she can ask about the _whats_ , _whys, and hows_ about her kind. She supposes it makes sense. They _are_ legendary creatures, after all, and if there are gumihos in every other mountain, that doesn’t make them rare, now does it.

Everything she knows now, she learned from panicked whispers, awed reverence, and temple pieces, wondering why there are paintings of the same reflection she sees when she _shifts._

There has been an insatiable hunger, at first. Her teeth tingling with wanting to sink into something warm, living, and moving. And then there was an intruder.

She’s got her teeth sunk into his horse, the man tossed to the side, whimpering and clutching his broken arm at first, before his cries died out to _watch_.

(It’s much _much_ later that she’ll learn that the human in front of her is the next emperor.)

He stares at her, enthralled, charmed even with her face half-shifted between a human with the bloody snarl of a fox, body imposing with all her nine tails spread outward to make her look bigger.

When he falls to his knees, sword tossed foolishly in the space in between them and tells her she’s beautiful, she scoffs. But this was also the time that forest creatures didn’t cut through her hunger anymore, and he was smart enough to notice.

“Humans,” he offers, doesn’t know that this is the start of his insanity. “, I have half a nation that wants me dead. I have thousands of soldiers willing to kill them for me. I will offer the lives of those not loyal to my legacy.”

She scoffs. “They are not yours to own.”

“I own their lives just as much as I own the very land you’re standing on. It is passed to me by my father and to him by his father and the fathers before them.” He says this while on his knees for a creature much stronger than he is, much stronger than his thousands of soldiers.

He’s pathetic.

And yet, she indulges.

Humans, she learns, are simple creatures. Easy to lure in traps, and don’t make too much of a fuss when she bites in the right place.

And _god_ do they satisfy her.

This is the part of her memories that she’d rather forget; can’t exactly put a marker on how much time passed where _red_ is all she can see, how long a war raged on, how many people he was willing to sacrifice just to see her crazed eyes hungry for more.

He was eager to fill a bucket that had no hopes of being filled.

She was never satisfied. But like every other part of her life, the red dulls, and her hunger abates momentarily.

She leaves.

And with this, ends the reign of an insane and tyrannical emperor, bewitched by a creature he was set to lose from in the beginning.

**::**

Joohyun sleeps.

During this time, she repents. Apologizes for every single one she touched, loathes herself for when she tries to remember, and not a single face registers. Nothing except for the old emperor’s manic face.

She doesn’t wake up for a very long time.

**::**

She settled somewhere far, at a mountain with such heavy fog at the bottom that humans don’t dare trek and the top just the perfect amount of sunny and overcast. There are a few villages littered nearby; only one is hostile to her kind and the rest are in a state of limbo about what to feel with what they considered as godly creatures.

Or demonic depends on who you ask.

This is where she meets Ahn Woonhyo.

(She tries to remember all the names of the humans that served her, starting with him.)

He came to her in the dead of the night, fueled by local suspicion after she left corpses of deers and boars where the fog is thickest.

He’s trembling, the putrid scent of his fear enticing, but Joohyun holds back.

“Please, help me.”

In his tale, he mentions a wife. He was a servant and the woman was of some noble status who fell in love with him, enough to elope with him and into a different lifestyle.

“My wife, she does not complain,” he narrates, sitting by the mouth of the cave in which she resides, only the glow of her eyes seen in the dark. “She bears my child but I have been plagued as of late, unable to do even the simplest job of carrying a sack of rice.”

He’s pure, she decides, only wants the best for his wife and growing family.

She gives him her bead.

In exchange for being granted strength and immunity to ailments, he is to build her a house. Joohyun knows she can use her bead to live, to drain the life off of him.

But when the thought of someone like him in the fray of the war, someone with a family to come home to but died under Joohyun’s teeth, she doesn’t.

Instead, she tells him to utter her name to people who wish to have a reprieve from their life. Those who don’t have anything for them in this world anymore or those who are burdened with an illness that already ate at their body or mind.

They don’t taste as good but Joohyun always catches their gratefulness as the last of their life drains from them.

**::**

The humans, of course, come and go.

They become rich from working, more time needed for their families, had to move away—there is always a reason, one way or another, and Joohyun does not hold this against them.

She takes her bead—none are stupid enough to run away with it, probably has something to do with Joohyun’s threats—and asks them to find a human before they sever their deal. She takes away their memories after as a precaution.

Soon, she has a place to call her own, something close to a temple, but that was always under the workings of the humans, never from her, reflecting their respect and reverence.

It was only a matter of time.

**::**

It was her twelfth human that picked up the stray.

“Milady,” Hajoon huffs, lugging around the huge pile of wood for Joohyun, a woman hanging back the edge of the treeline, looking at them. “, she followed me. I tried using several cuts through the forest but she always seems to be a few paces behind.”

Joohyun just nods, the man proceeding on with his task, before tipping his hat at Joohyun’s direction and starting his trek back towards his village, not sparing a glance at the young girl. His mistress will take care of her, anyway.

The girl appears to be young but aged at the same time. The roundness of her cheeks is what makes her look young but her eyes tell a different story. Joohyun is intrigued.

There’s something _odd_ with the woman. Her hanbok is only muddy at the edge but otherwise pristine, hands behind her back as she stares head on to Joohyun, not a bit scared. But it might be because she puts on a front of looking like a normal human whenever the human does errands for her. He’s a little too soft on the heart and scares easily.

Joohyun turns, heading inside her house, and shuts the door behind her.

**::**

When she looks outside well after the sunset, there is no sign of anyone outside.

**::**

The woman shows up at odd times.

At first, she thought the woman was after Hajoon, her roundabout way of showing affection. But when she remembers how far of a trek her house is and that the only reason the human can climb is because of her bead, she concludes that there may be something supernatural with the woman.

“What are you?” She asks, ignoring the woman’s _you spend a lot of time inside, you should come out more_.

They’re outside, the clouds hanging over and gray with the promise of heavy rainfall. Joohyun’s favorite.

“I’m Seulgi,” the woman smiles, easily avoiding the pile of fallen leaves Hajoon cleared yesterday.

“No,” Joohyun stresses, shaking her head. “, what _are_ you?”

“I’m Seulgi.”

Joohyun walks back inside her house. The rain pours soon enough, drowning out the sound of the forest, and if _Seulgi_ walked away, she doesn’t hear that too.

**::**

“So,” Seulgi bounds up the front yard like she’s just waiting for the past two weeks for Joohyun to come outside. “, I don’t know your name.”

Joohyun swears she listened for half an hour, noting every footfall in the distance and nothing’s been near her house except for the few critters loitering the forest. She didn’t hear Seulgi’s footsteps. She sighs.

“You don’t.”

“Are you going to introduce yourself?”

Joohyun gathers the handful of freshly laundered sheets. “No.”

**::**

“Eunjung?”

“How about Hwayoung?”

“Jihyun? You look like a Jihyun if I’m being honest.”

Every time Joohyun is sure she’s alone, the woman shows up at the edge of the forest, always waiting. She’s taken to guessing her name after one too many times of a failed introduction from the gumiho.

She leaves her again.

**::**

After too many questioning looks from Hajoon, Joohyun tried sorting out the logical explanations for the woman that seems to be happy in lurking around her house.

The woman seems to be going in and out of different villages when she feels like it, sometimes pranking people who try hiking up the mountain, most times helping humans one way or another with something asinine.

She always has her hands behind her back, holding a cane of some sort but she doesn’t appear to have a limp in her walk. Sometimes, the woman twirls the cane, some times she just lets it dangle on her side like an extension of her arm and— 

Joohyun feels stupid.

Seulgi’s a goblin.

**::**

She’s not scared of her.

Joohyun thinks she should be. After all, Seulgi is inherently a far higher being than her.

But as she goes outside of her house, already anticipating the other woman’s chirpy _good afternoon,_ she can’t find a single bone in her body that is intimidated by the other woman. Joohyun sits at the front steps of her house, rolling her eyes in assent as Seulgi eyes the step beside her. Seulgi smiles, leaning backward with both palms planted behind her.

“You’re outside!”

“No,” Joohyun shakes her head, waits for a beat. “I’m Joohyun, not outside.”

There’s a moment where the forest’s sound fills the silence and then Seulgi is doubled over in laughter, startling Joohyun enough to jump in her seat. Seulgi’s eyes are hiding in thin lines and _yeah,_ Joohyun’s not scared of her.

**::**

Seulgi hangs around enough for Hajoon to notice. He was wary at the start but as time goes by, he starts laughing with the goblin like they’ve known each other for such a long time.

There’s a nagging at the back of Joohyun’s brain that she’s missing something.

**::**

She’s not blind.

Joohyun knows there’s something else there when Seulgi smiles at her widely, presenting whatever new item she procured from her galavanting in whichever village piqued her interest. Knows there’s something there when Seulgi hangs back by the treeline, watching as Joohyun disappears inside her house. Knows there’s something in the way Seulgi’s smile dims when Joohyun rejects her one too many requests to enter her house.

(Never give a higher being the permission to enter your own home. Once is all it takes and they can come and go as they please.)

She knows that Seulgi knows that Joohyun doesn’t trust her yet, despite their tentative acquaintanceship.

Joohyun intends to keep it that way.

**::**

The front of her yard seems packed as usual.

Before, it was just Joohyun, her servant of the decade, and the dying person.

Now, there is Seulgi, hanging back with the shadows of the forest trees hiding her face and the son of the man whose body is taken by leprosy.

The son insisted to be beside his father during his final moments, wanting nothing more but to be beside the man who raised him. Joohyun admires that. But she also knows that before the younger man can set foot in his village, memories of the night will be taken from him.

She shifts as soon as Hajoon blindfolds the young man—no mortal shall see and know of her true form—watches with interest as the son clasps his father’s hand desperately as the cold air of the night sinks as she steps forward with paws rather than feet.

Joohyun makes quick work of it, muttering against the boy’s ear as she erases this night.

She looks to the side and sees Seulgi looking at her, expression hard.

_I should be scared_ , Joohyun thinks, feeling the blood drip slowly from her chin. _Why am I not scared?_

**::**

It’s the dead of the night. The new moon and clouds bathing the forest in eerie darkness when Joohyun figures it out.

The moment she steps outside, Seulgi’s stumbling into the front yard a few minutes later, swiping at her eyes blearily like she just woke up.

“What’s— “

“You’re a goblin.”

Seulgi stops, brows furrowed in confusion. “Yes, I am.”

Joohyun feels as frantic as the forest, the sounds picking up like they’re sensing the growing tension. “You’re _new_.”

“Well, I just—“

“And you think you _like_ me.”

Even in the dark, Joohyun can see the flush on Seulgi’s cheeks but resolutely stares her head-on. “I don’t just _think_ about it. I do like you.”

A hand rakes through Joohyun’s hair. Feeling hysteric as she concludes that she’s right.

“Listen to me,” she starts, holding a hand up when Seulgi tries to cross the distance between them. “, you _don’t_. You’re new at this. This explains why I can’t identify you from the start, why I’m not _scared_ of you.”

Seulgi looks confused. “I don’t want you to be scared of me.”

“I should be. You’re a god.” It drags a laugh out of Joohyun. Saying it out loud is like ice-cold water dropping on her. “Do you even know what I am?”

“I don’t know, uh, a fae?”

_She really does not know anything._

“I’m a gumiho, Seulgi.” Joohyun wraps her arms around herself, the cold seeping in her skin as she watches the realization unfold on the goblin’s face. “I’m sorry, but what you’re feeling isn’t real. I’ve seen it on the faces of countless humans. Yours isn’t any different.”

The forest stops humming, soft whines from the trees whisper as they sway against the breeze.

Seulgi nods once and in a burst of a bright blue flame, she’s gone.

**::**

Joohyun carries on as usual.

There’s nothing to feel bad about. It’s a crisis averted.

**::**

She’s not counting.

It’s nearly a hundred years when Joohyun last saw Seulgi.

No, she’s not counting.

**::**

Soomin—a runaway bride that wasn’t welcome in her hometown and her seventeenth human—failed to get her a replacement for her so Joohyun packed a few of her stuff and went away. It’s alright. Joohyun hasn’t had the time to explore and moping around her property is getting pathetic.

It must’ve been a decade in or somewhere close when she picked up Seojun in a far city around the time houses are being built using cement instead of wood and when cities are filled with smoke and industrialization.

Seojun was wandering around, no particular city in mind, and just wants to get away from a family that didn’t get his attraction for men. The boy cries the night he saw Joohyun at the bar of an inn she’s staying at, sobbing messily against a tall glass of alcohol because he can’t understand why she looks so pretty for him but knows wholeheartedly he was made for men.

It’s adorable, really.

Joohyun makes a deal with him and he agrees, already a done deal the moment she told him that he’ll be immune to her charm the moment he has her bead.

Together, they go home.

**::**

She knows Seulgi’s near the moment they passed the thick fog of her mountain.

By the time they made it to her front yard, Seulgi’s standing in the middle of the tall grass, cane in hand and dressed appropriately for the new age.

Seojun shuffles tightly behind Joohyun, Seulgi’s eyes watching with interest when the boy tries to crow behind a woman he’s taller by a head.

“Who’s that?” There’s no doubt that Seojun can feel the thrum of magic from Seulgi. Her powers are more pronounced than they have been.

“An old friend.”

Seulgi smiles at her.

**::**

Joohyun wants to ask a lot of things.

_How have you been?_

_How long have you been waiting here?_

_Did anything change?_

Instead, she says: “Are you going to stand there or will you help clean up this mess?”

Her house _is_ a mess. Grass too tall and the side of the house getting eaten slowly by the vines that started growing from the west, webs too thick and dust stirring at every step she takes inside the house. Despite its old condition, the only worry she has is the leaking roof.

Joohyun’s got all the windows open—at least, those not obstructed with wild growth, anyway—to let the air in, assessing the situation of the house. Seojun and Seulgi are outside, coats strewn by the front door, cutting the tall grass by working on the treeline and making their way to the center.

She just finished moping up the floorboards when she glares at Seojun who just barged inside, leaving muddy tracks on the still-wet floor. Seulgi stands by the front door, sweaty and disheveled, shifting from the heels of her foot.

“Come in,” Joohyun blames the exhaustion from the trip and the amount of dust she’s inhaled the last few hours, looking away when Seulgi carefully strips off her leather shoes and steps inside the house.

Seulgi’s more powerful now, more in tune with what she’s capable of.

But as she knocks on the arch between the living area and the kitchen, asking permission to come in and help with Joohyun preparing lunch, Joohyun waits for the feeling of helplessness; waits for her instinct to kick in and cower before Seulgi.

The goblin just smiles, crinkling her nose when Joohyun asks which vegetables she likes and admitting that _I don’t like those_.

Joohyun waits for it.

**::**

The house is quiet.

Joohyun reads the book Seulgi told her _I read this and it’s good_ and the goblin is sitting below a window with her eyes closed. She looks asleep so Joohyun startles when the sun is high in the sky and the goblin speaks.

“I’m sorry, you know, for all those years ago.” Her cheek is puffed up like she’s biting her tongue. “I was young and I probably made you uncomfortable.”

Joohyun wonders, not for the first time, if the dropping feeling in her stomach is fear.

It tastes bitter, instead, twisting her lips into a smile that doesn’t feel natural on her face.

“It’s alright.”

**::**

Something shifts.

Seulgi was just lounging inside the house, under the window she’s claimed as her resting spot when Seojun comes back from his trip to the city and brandishes a newly plucked chicken.

“Unnie! They having this huge—”

“She doesn’t eat chicken,” Seulgi interjects, not looking up from where she was peeling potatoes on the floor. Joohyun, who had Seulgi’s coat draped over her lap, fixing a button, just gapes, wonders why, and how she knew that.

Seojun just carefully backs away from the room, pressing his lips tightly to stop from smiling too widely.

Seulgi feels a stare on her face, Joohyun looking at her like she’s never seen her before.

“What?”

“How did you know?”

Seulgi shrugs. “Even your past humans never brought back any chickens. It was just something I noticed.”

**::**

The goblin, it turns out, notices a _lot_ of things.

Seulgi goes away for days, comes back with _I saw this and thought you’d like it_ and _isn’t this your preferred color?_

Joohyun doesn’t know what to do.

She offers a smile every time, wonders if Seulgi’s is a reflection of hers. Because if so, since when did her cheeks start warming?

**::**

Tonight, there are two humans instead of one.

A freak accident in one of those new-age factories, Seojun tells her. Both wailing in misery and the scent of fresh blood draining away from their severed limbs pulls at Joohyun.

She shifts just as the cloud blocks the moon, hunger clawing at her desperately as she consumes them without hesitation.

Joohyun’s breathing hard, licking the side of her mouth, willing the hunger to be _enough_. Her bead is thrumming inside of Seojun, calling at her. He’s cleaning up, washing the grass away with water, innocent to the predatory gleam of Joohyun’s stare. She takes a step forward—

A hand on her shoulder stops her, turning her head swiftly that a few of the blood dripping on her chin makes it on Seulgi’s dress shirt. The goblin’s eyes are hard, always the way they are when she watches Joohyun feed.

She doesn’t take her hand away.

Joohyun feels small under her stare, still breathing hard when the god brings her hand up towards her cheek.

Her body _sings_.

Joohyun’s hunger calms like waves after a storm, the point of contact has both of their magic dancing slowly. Seulgi keeps her eyes on hers, serious, and something warm spills over Joohyun’s insides, wonders if this is her death.

A palm strokes the skin of her cheek, Joohyun shudders.

Seulgi steps away.

**::**

Seulgi bids them farewell for the night, coat over one shoulder, and dipping to the trees while walking backward.

Joohyun is sure the god did something to her, is responsible for the sudden ache in her chest as she watches Seulgi walk away.

_It’s ridiculous,_ Joohyun thinks, _she’ll pester me come morning._

Seulgi didn’t.

Not the next day, or the next one after that.

She’s gone for a while.

**::**

Time passes.

Seojun, Jaegin, Boeun, Naerum, Woomin, Ilsung, Minkyu, Donghyun, Minshik, Myunghee, and then Jiwoo.

Time passes and Seulgi is still gone.

The forest is quiet.

**::**

Joohyun curls in on herself, wonders when did Seulgi be the first thing she thought of when she wakes up and the last before she closes her eyes.

Time has never been an issue for Joohyun but she can’t help but notice that it’s flowing slowly this time around.

**::**

Not only the forest but the _whole_ mountain sings and Joohyun’s already up and out the front door the second Seulgi’s shadow breaks through the treeline. Joohyun wonders if she can teleport because she’s sure the energy was at the bottom of the mountain a few moments before.

Seulgi looks tired, a slight hunch in her shoulders but she’s looking at Joohyun with such intensity that she wonders, not for the first time, if she should be scared.

There’s that feeling of her stomach dropping, could that be it?

“It’s late,” the wind carries her voice, maybe that’s why it sounds unsteady.

Seulgi’s steps on a floorboard that creaks, pulling a smile at them both, and the goblin stops a step down from where Joohyun is. They’re close.

“You’re still up.”

Joohyun stalls. The way Seulgi’s eyes are shining is unnatural, feeling her heart beat faster than it normally does. “You woke up the whole damn mountain.”

If she concentrates hard enough, she can feel the warmth of Seulgi’s exhale on her chest.

_Is this how mortals feel in the face of my charms?_

That realization is a little humbling.

“I’m sorry,” no, she’s not. Not with how she’s now smiling softly up at Joohyun. She looks past Joohyun’s shoulder. “Can I come in?”

The fire burns slowly, mapping out the beauty of Seulgi’s face. She’s been quiet since Joohyun opened the door and left it open for her, her cane resting beside her.

“I have something to tell you.” Joohyun takes a breath. So does the whole forest. “You’re beautiful.”

Her stomach drops.

“Seulgi, I told you before—”

“It’s not that.” Her voice stirs a breeze outside, the first time she sounds so desperate. “You’re a gumiho.”

“Yes, I am.”

_Why does this sound so familiar?_

“I’m a goblin, Hyunnie.”

  
The nickname does something to Joohyun, looks away from Seulgi because she can feel the warmth on her cheeks and it’s not from the fire that’s burning bright like it’s feeding off of the tension in the room.

“I know that.”

She hates that Seulgi stood up, standing in front of her and catching her chin with a thumb. Her skin _burns_.

“Do you?” Joohyun exhales shakily, biting her lip. Seulgi’s thumb catches it, tugs it free, and runs the pad against wet skin. “If you did, you’ll _know_.”

She can’t think. She wants to turn her head away, wants to suck the thumb inside her mouth, wants to shift and snarl and be wild, wants to stay under Seulgi’s hands.

“Tell me,” Seulgi hums, having fun with the softness of Joohyun’s bottom lip. She laughs lightly.

“That first time? I ran away from you because I thought I just fell for what you are. I know better now.” The goblin bends down until they’re eye to eye. “It was because of who you are. You’re all it takes.”

**::**

For a moment, they were happy, basking in the new realization.

It didn’t last long.

“I can’t.”

Seulgi nods, finally sad, like all she wants is to say it out loud. “I know.”

Because at the end of the day, Joohyun’s a gumiho and Seulgi’s a goblin.

A fox can never pull the sword out.

**::**

Joohyun rolls her eyes when Seulgi knocks against the door jamb even when she whispered _come to my room._ Seulgi just shrugs, sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes shining as she pulls Joohyun forward until she’s sitting on a lap.

Lips brush against the skin on top of her collarbone, burning hot yet Joohyun shudders like it’s cold, wriggling away only for a strong grip to pull her back.

Seulgi noses at her neck, pressing hot kisses and warm hands mapping her back.

“Okay?” the question is punctuated with a wet suck on the side of her neck, Joohyun keening and hips stuttering forward.

“Yes,” it comes out as a hiss, pulling her hands up as Seulgi bunches her nightgown at the bottom and tugs it upwards.

Gravity shifts as Seulgi pull her down with her on the bed, the other woman’s dark hair splayed against the sheets. Joohyun’s create a curtain around them as she hovers above, bumping her nose against Seulgi and their breath mingling together shakes the world outside.

They kiss slowly, savoring, and Joohyun marvels at the power under her hold, unable to stop the noise from the back of her throat when Seulgi shakes and presses against her more insistently.

Hungry.

_“Ah!”_

A thumb flicks at her nipple again, wanting to get that reaction again, Seulgi sucking on her tongue relentlessly before drawing her own path down Joohyun’s neck with a series of wet kisses.

Joohyun thinks there’s pain as a hand curl at the base of her neck but can’t register it as she moans to the ceiling, feeling lightheaded as another hand parts her sex, their moans overlapping as a lone finger traces Joohyun’s clit.

There is an earthquake inside of her, shaking her limbs and Joohyun wants nothing more than for Seulgi to feel the same.

The lips on her nipple tremble as her hand reached their destination, the fabric in between Seulgi’s legs already hot, hip churning upwards once to chase the press.

They break apart to give Seulgi a moment to undress, Joohyun resting on her back for she feels that her legs will not be able to support her the whole time.

Every part of her keens, pressing bare against Seulgi’s skin, gasping as the other woman settles in between her legs and two fingers part her. She mimics the same, their eyes on each other and gauging which movement the other likes.

When Seulgi swipes at her clit, she does the same and they shake at the same time. As Seulgi sinks inside her, she bites the wrist beside her head, feeling Seulgi’s forehead dropping on her shoulder as she does the same.

It’s hot, wet, and when the moment of adjusting passes, it’s frantic.

Seulgi mouths at every expanse of skin she can reach, her hot breath by Joohyun’s ears. One thrusts inside as the other pulls out, wet sounds and skin filling up the room, the smell of sex so thick that Joohyun thinks she’ll choke on the scent for decades to come.

She finishes with a cry just as Seulgi’s legs give out on her and she drops on top of Joohyun, the fingers inside of the goblin nudging harder and she cries right against Joohyun’s ear.

“Stay,” Joohyun whispers when the cold starts licking at their skin and she decides its time to come under the covers.

She sleeps with Seulgi on top of her, ears pressed against Joohyun’s chest where her heart is.

**::**

This time, Seulgi stays.

Maybe they can be content with just this.

So that’s what they try to do.

**::**

“What if there’s a human out there for you?”

Seulgi shakes her head.

“There is only you for me and I am sure of that.”

**::**

Joohyun thinks that Seulgi is also the only one for her.

There must be a way, somehow.

She starts looking for it.

**::**

The answer is for Seulgi to leave.

“What?” The grass trembles, Seugli’s angry stare enough to make Joohyun turn the other way, but never scared. “Why?”

Joohyun exhales. “Am I still the one for you?”

Seulgi’s shoulders drop, sighing heavily. “Yes. Always have been.”

“Okay.” She nods. “Do this for me.”

The goblin eyes the step beside Joohyun and it brings an odd sense of nostalgia when she allows Seulgi to sit next to her.

“How long?”

“A thousand days.” Seulgi’s head turns to Joohyun immediately, mouth agape. Joohyun kisses her softly. “You’re also the only one for me. Let me do this.”

Seulgi laughs wetly, a tear dropping from one eye. “Okay.”

**::**

Seulgi leaves and Joohyun wishes that this will be the last time.

**::**

She takes her bead back and sleeps.

**::**

There is a time where she feels like she’s being separated from her fox, the pain the most she can imagine and Joohyun almost breaks.

But she remembers why she’s doing this in the first place and she lets it happen.

**::**

When she wakes up, she can’t feel the forest thrumming beneath her feet.

Seulgi’s right outside the door and holds her gingerly.

“Wow,” she feels warmer than usual, Joohyun burrows more against her body. “, you’re really human.”

Joohyun nods.

“Yeah, I am.”

**::**

Joohyun already made preparations when she was still a gumiho, using her powers to fabricated the identity of Bae Joohyun. All that she needs to do is to step up and be a real person and the people she touched with made-up memories won’t even notice.

Seulgi laughs at her choice of lifestyle, shaking her head but fits Kang Seulgi in the narrative as well.

**::**

It’s busy, everyone running around like headless chickens and it amuses Joohyun, reaching up to fix a stray piece of hair that fell in front of her face.

“Water?” a bottle is handed to her, Seulgi already chugging her own bottle.

“Thanks,” she smiles, taking the offer.

Sooyoung whines in the background. “Yah, Seulgi-unnie, I’m sensing favoritism.”

Seulgi laughs and Seungwan opens a bottle for Sooyoung instead. Yerim rolls her eyes at the scene and mutters _you two are so obvious_ to Seulgi and Joohyun.

“All right everyone, the show’s on in three minutes, get ready!”

People chants _Red Velvet_ as Joohyun sent a wink to Seulgi.

She’s happy.

**::**

Seulgi’s still immortal, that one’s for sure.

She doesn’t age as Joohyun does. Or like Yerim, Sooyoung, and Seungwan. Or like their other friends.

They have to do something about it.

**::**

**RED VELVET’S IRENE TO RETIRE TO THE COUNTRYSIDE?**

The popular girl group RED VELVET’s leader confirmed in an interview that she’s planning to build her house away from the hustle and bustle from the big city. Irene also confirmed that she’s not planning on renewing her contract with SM Entertainment. She is the only member to reveal her plans for their upcoming contract end... _READ MORE HERE_

**::**

**THE END OF AN ERA**

RED VELVET’s company SM Entertainment released a statement that only Yeri and Wendy renewed their contracts and are to stay in the company. Future plans of the other three members are still unknown.

**::**

**BREAKING NEWS**

Former RED VELVET’s member KANG SEULGI is reported missing as of last night. Kang was last seen at the Incheon International Airport for a personal trip to Amsterdam. The airline confirmed that Kang boarded the flight but she never went through the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol customs. Police are still investigating what happened but there is wild speculation about an organized kidnapping. _READ MORE HERE_.

**::**

**LOSING HOPE?**

Closed for eight months and now considered as a cold case, Yeri, Wendy, and all SM Entertainment artists including the staff were seen wearing black during the fifth anniversary of Kang Seulgi’s disappearance. The incident wracked the entertainment industry and there has been no further statement from both the police and the family of the former idol. More on page 6.

**::**

It was all for show.

Joohyun tuns off the news just as Seulgi trudges inside the living room with a wet towel slung across her neck.

“The kids will be here soon.” She says, sinking against Seulgi’s side.

“Who’s driving them?”

“Seungwan this time. Yerimie’s still got seatbelt marks on her shoulder the last time Sooyoung drove them here.”

Seulgi nods, flicks the channel to a movie, settling them on the couch to take a quick nap before their friends arrive.

**::**

Joohyun ages.

Her joints creak like floorboards, feeling her body slowing down, and hair growing white.

Seulgi looks like the same she did the first day they met.

This is perfect.

**::**

She wakes up to a kiss pressed against her forehead.

Opening her eyes is hard lately and Seulgi waits by the side of the bed patiently, holding on to one of Joohyun’s hands.

“Is it time?” Seulgi nods. Joohyun smiles. “Am I still the only one for you?”

Seulgi laughs, incredulous, but goes along with Joohyun. “Yes.”

“Good. You’re mine, too.”

Joohyun doesn’t get blinded by the bright blue flame. She watches, fascinated, as the sword lodged in the middle of Seulgi’s chest makes itself known. Her fingers catch the surface of it, more of an energy than a concrete object.

It burns brighter under her touch.

“I love you, Hyunnie.”

Even speaking is hard but Joohyun manages. “I love you too.”

Seulgi nods, satisfied. “See you soon?”

Joohyun wraps her old fingers against the hilt of the sword. “See you soon.”

And she pulls.

**::**

Seulgi’s smiling at her, breeze swaying the soft grass beneath their feet.

“Did you wait long?”

“No.” Seulgi takes her hand in hers and intertwines their fingers. “You’re just in time”

**::**

end. 

**::**

The amount of research i did for this makes me proud lmao

Just gon clear up sum shit real quick

1)gumiho lore differs per source so i stuck with the thousand day one

2)i actually dunno if goblins can get attracted to gumihos, i just made it that way

3)seulgi is a gaksi dokkaebi aka a maiden goblin

4)the gumiho turning to human thing is supposed to be “dont eat humans” and i think that giving her fox bead to a human is “technically” draining a human so i just scraped that thought altogether lmao

5)rv members eventually learned that seulgi’s a goblin but just thought that joohyun’s the human she fell for. I read that ppl knowing a gumiho’s true nature turns them into a fox and after all that effort to be human, i aint takin a risk fo mah girl

6)im sorry for historical inaccuracies lmaooo

They spent their lives together yay for happy endings

If ppl make fanarts of gumiho!irene and dokkaebi!seulgi, i’ll kiss them

Follow me on twitter [**rexwrites** ](https://twitter.com/rexwrites)coz sometimes i tweet about what fic im writing next

all mistakes are mine :))

thank you and have a good one!

**Author's Note:**

> **follow the link/s on my[ twitter ](https://twitter.com/rexwrites/status/1341058168483315712?s=20)for updates and if you want to be my friend! :D **


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